HARROGATE, Tenn. - The undefeated Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters made their case to ascend to the No. 1 spot in the rankings on Wednesday night, defeating Brevard by a score of 88-49 in Tex Turner Arena.
Lincoln Memorial (19-0, 13-0 SAC) came into the game as the nation's fourth-best shooting team in terms of field goal percentage, knocking down 52.0 percent of their opportunities on the season. They shot 65.5 percent on their 29 first half field goal attempts, using a 22-8 spurt over the final 7:30 of the first half to put the game out of reach, and finished the game shooting at a 51.7 percent clip.
The Railsplitters had four players reach double figures, led by Luquon Choice's 24. Center Keenan Peterson was the team's second-leading scorer with 16 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. Lorenza Ross, who entered the game as the team's second-leading scorer on the season, finished with 14 points and is now two shy of 1,000 for his career.
Brevard's (8-11, 6-7 SAC) loss snaps a string of five wins in six contests for the Tornados, the team's best run since winning seven of eight nearly half a decade ago. The final margin of 39 points was Brevard's second-largest loss to the Railsplitters. Lincoln Memorial has now won all nine meetings with Brevard at Tex Turner Arena and 24 consecutive games at home overall. They are also now unbeaten in their last 20 South Atlantic Conference matchups.
The Tornados were paced by Darius Moose's 12 points and five rebounds each by Miles Leathers and Stevie Williams. Brevard was limited to a 17-for-58 shooting performance against the nation's leaders in field goal percentage defense.
Although Brevard performed well on its first handful of possessions, the Tornados were unable to keep pace with the Railsplitters and win a second game over a ranked opponent in a season for the first time in school history. Moose connected on a jumper and a three-point opportunity on the Tornados' first two trips down the floor, but Brevard misfired on each of its next six attempts. The Tornados would twice trim the lead to as few as five points as the half progressed before Lincoln Memorial put the game out of reach.
The Tornados will now look forward to their next opportunity against the Railsplitters, a 7:00 p.m. tipoff on Wednesday, February 18. The game will be televised on WMYA My40 and will immediately precede the North Carolina at Duke telecast at 9:00 p.m. on the same network.
Brevard next turns its attention to Lenoir-Rhyne, a team the Tornados defeated 59-56 on December 7 for the team's first win of the season. Both games of the men's and women's doubleheader will be shown on WMYA My40, marking the second time in each program's history that a game has been televised. Tipoff of the women's game is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. with the men slated to follow at 4:00 p.m.
